Volume Three: Exodus
by Martin McIntosh
Summary: The Shanti Virus is released in Odessa, TX. As Peter Petrelli, Matt Parkman and Company Agent Howard Lemay attempt to quarantine the town, Elle Bishop begins her hunt for Sylar, Mohinder Suresh searches desperately for a cure, Claire Bennet's journey to Odessa takes an unexpected turn and Hiro Nakamura's failure spurs him to take his most desperate actions yet.
1. Prologue: Powerless

**A/N: Yes I'm aware that someone else already tried doing the "alternate volume three storyline" as a fanfic, but please do read on. The very least you'll get is perfect spelling and punctuation in this fanfic and who knows maybe even some intriguing twists on the canon.**

* * *

 **Prologue: "Powerless"**

 **Adam Monroe**

 **PrimaTech Vault, Odessa, Texas**

"Kensei!" Adam Monroe turned around at the mention of his old alias just as he grabbed the vial.

"You were a friend to me once" Hiro Nakamura said in Japanese, as he glared at Adam with an expression that was a mix of disappointment and anger.

"You were more than a friend to me Hiro, you were and inspiration," Adam responded in English as he moved closer to his new enemy, "I was a rudderless drunk and you taught me how to be a hero."

"Only to have you become a villain," Hiro retorted.

Adam face twisted in anger as he drew his sword.

"I learned that from you," He stated coldly as he positioned the blade inches from Hiro's neck, "and when this virus is released, those that are left will be granted a second chance..."

He moved closer to Hiro.

"...and I'll be their hero." He whispered but before he could strike, Hiro grabbed Adam's shoulder.

 _Checkmate_ , Adam thought as he dropped the vial, just milliseconds before Hiro teleported both of them away, which in turn proceeded to shatter on the vault floor.

* * *

"Don't you see, you're on the wrong side." Peter Petrelli yelled as he telekinetically pushed Matt Parkman back along the vault corridor.

"What about me Pete?" Nathan Petrelli's words froze Peter in place as the elder brother emerged from the corner of the corridor.

"Am I on the wrong side too?" Nathan grimly asked his brother in their first face-to-face meeting ever since Peter saw Adam save Nathan from a slow, painful death with his blood.

"Nathan?" Peter's mouth was wide open at the sight of his brother.

"We have to stop Adam," Nathan pleaded.

"We have to? Nathan he saved your life!" Peter retorted, "you wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him!"

"He 'used' me to get to you," Nathan clarified, "and now he used you to get to this place, ask yourself could he manage that without your help?"

The question pierced Peter like a dagger, Adam didn't want to destroy the virus, he wanted to release it and Peter made it happen.

Peter made a dash for the vault followed by Nathan and a barely-on-his-feet Parkman. The first thing he saw when he entered were the shattered remains of the vial. The virus, that in a little over a year would kill 93% of mankind, was released.

 _Caitlin, I'm so sorry_. Peter fell to his knees, defeated.

"Is that it?" Nathan asked, "is that the virus?"

"Yeah," Peter grimly confirmed, "and now it's out because of me."

* * *

"Sylar!" Elle Bishop's hand electrified as she had the serial killer in sight, who in turn grabbed the vial case and made a dash for the fire escape just as she began shooting bolts of blue lightning from her hand but none of them hit their intended target. She then ran after him to the fire escape but by the time she reached it Sylar was nowhere in sight.

"Sylar's gone," Elle said dejectedly as she punched a nearby door frame with her one unbroken hand, "my dad's gonna kill me."

"I very much doubt that," Dr Mohinder Suresh retorted, "if it wasn't for you Sylar would've slaughtered us all."

Elle's spirits perked up at the realization of this small victory. They had Sylar on the run, with or without his powers they would catch him eventually.

"Cool." Elle smiled awkwardly.

"Oh no," Mohinder exclaimed as he realized that Sylar had made off with the vials of Claire's blood and his antibodies, "Nikki!"

Sylar wouldn't be powerless for much longer, and even if he accidentally killed himself with a wrong dose of each, this was the last of Claire's blood which meant that Nikki's chances decreased considerably unless they could obtain more.

* * *

Peter, Nathan and Matt, made their way back to the ground floor just in time to see a person falling to the ground.

"No!" Peter yelled as he rushed to the man.

"Stay with me, man!" Peter pleaded with the dying man as he checked his pulse and temperature to find them weakening and feverish respectively. His medical training allowed him to make several educated guesses about the virus, it was airborne, _which means that we're already exposed to it_ , highly contagious, _which means it's spreading fast_ , and had an inconsistent incubation period _which meant that they could start showing symptoms in a time frame ranging from any second to any day now_. The perfect combination of factors for a pandemic of biblical proportions assuming they had failed to contain it. The man's eyes closed and he breathed his last.

"This is all my fault," Peter said in desperation, "he died from the virus."

"Don't say that Pete," Nathan implored his little brother, "we can stop this."

"How can we stop it, it's in the air?!" Matt asked incredulously.

"Quarantine," Nathan responded, "we shut down the building."

Peter unfortunately knew that it was already too late for that.

"No, we close off the whole town." Peter said with renewed determination. Adam hadn't won yet, not while they had anything to say about it. "Let's go save the world."

* * *

Nikki Sanders and Monika Dawson collectively struggled to lift the beam that was keeping the door shut as the flames close in around them. The beam finally lifted high enough for the door to open. They braced the beam on the wall next to the door as Monika opened it just wide enough for her to slip through it and into safety.

Before Nikki could follow, the beam shifted and pinned the door shut again.

Nikki silently cursed whoever designed the building's doors so they didn't open outwards as she attempted to lift the beam on her own. Without her powers however, her efforts were tragically futile as the flame finally came into contact with a gas main and the resulting inferno consumed her whole, or at least that's the impression the rest of the world was left with.

* * *

"Why don't you listen!" Nathan's patience with the officer in front of him had flown out of a window five minutes ago.

"Because I have genuine health threats to deal with," Sheriff Bradford replied with a deadpan tone which served to infuriate Nathan even more, "case in point, a student at Union Wells High just passed out."

"Why, is he sick?" Peter asked in a 'you're staring at it' tone.

"I don't know," Bradford responded indifferently, "we're sending an ambulance to deal with it."

"We have another one boss at the library!" A nearby officer exclaimed as he was holding a phone up to his left shoulder.

"What the hell's going on out there?!" Bradford's exasperation was matching that of Nathan.

"We told you it's the virus." Peter said.

"So you're saying" Bradford left to make a few phone calls that hopefully would save the world as Nathan and Peter examined the police map of Odessa.

"Union Wells is here," Nathan pointed at one intersection, "the Library's here," he pointed at another further up north, and closer to the highways leading out of the town, "the virus is on the move but it hasn't made it to the highways yet so we still have time."

"I'm on it." Peter said as he realized exactly what Nathan meant, if Bradford wouldn't quarantine the town then it would fall to him to block any people from leaving it.

"I'll set up a press-conference, get the word out" Nathan responded.

As soon as Peter was out of the police station he flew north to try and salvage the situation and by the time Peter had arrived at least 500 cars had left the city since the virus got out, any number of which could've carried infected people. Peter had to make sure the number didn't get any higher before the authorities showed up. He landed in the middle of the road and right in front of a rocky trench the highway had cut straight through.

 _And I thought opening the vault was hard_. Peter thought as he felt the crushing mental strain of telekinetically creating a rockslide, only slightly alleviated by the reassuring image of the road being blocked by an ever increasing pile of rocks dirt and even whole trees. Once he was positive that the barricade was high enough no one would dare climb it, much less attempt to drive over it he wiped off the blood that had escaped his body through his right nostril with his hand and flew back to Odessa.

By the time he was back, Nathan had done everything humanly possible to look presentable as the reporters, camera crews and journalists had been piling up thanks to Matt's telepathy.

"They're all set, I've made sure they'll listen to what you have to say." Matt said as Peter approached his brother.

"Peter," Nathan noticed Peter's discomfort, "this is not your fault."

"If I hadn't listened to Adam..."

"If only I hadn't listened to Linderman." Nathan's words cheered Peter up as the three moved to face the music.

* * *

Claire Bennet wasn't having the best of days, her dad was dead, her boyfriend had dumped her for admittedly well justified reasons and right now she wanted to lay in her bed, curse the stupid American drinking age being four years away for her, and hope that a magic fairy would give her a fake ID so she could drink the pain away without being blocked by a self-righteous bartender or shopkeeper.

"Claire, I'm going out!" Sandra Bennet shouted from downstairs.

"Okay mom!" Claire shouted back with all the mustered enthusiasm of a suicidally depressed toilet cleaner.

After what felt like a minute but was actually a couple of seconds, she reached for the remote and turned on her bedroom TV just in time to see Nathan in mid-sentence.

"...Odessa, Texas has been quarantined to prevent the release of an unknown, extremely contagious virus..." the rest of the sentence became a blur as Claire realized that the person standing right next to her biological father was the long-thought deceased Peter.

"My god! Peter you're alive!" Claire whispered at the screen in subdued shock.

 _I need to be there,_ she thought as she began packing for the trip to her childhood hometown.

* * *

The Powers that Be had decided that Nathan should be among the first to die from the Shanti virus, he knew that his incubation period was over, he could only imagine how sweaty he must have looked on camera but he couldn't afford to think about it, years as a DA and months as a Congressman candidate had trained him to deliver public speeches and statements with composure regardless of how much physical or emotional pain he was in at the moment.

"I, stand alongside the brave citizens of..." Nathan felt what he imagined a non-lethal gunshot to the head would feel like, "...Odessa..." he knew he didn't have long left, "...in these trying ti..." he felt what strength he had left leave him and he collapsed to the floor.

Peter leapt into action and caught his brother.

"Nathan?" Peter felt a familiar sensation as the same feeling that gnawed at his soul when Nathan told him their father had passed away was here now as the fate of his brother was literally in his hands. He checked Nathan's pulse and found it stable, but the alarming thing was that Nathan's skin felt like napalm to the touch. "My God, he's burning up!"

"Somebody get a doctor here now!" Matt shouted as hard as he could as the assembled camera crews and reporters scattered to the four winds out of sheer panic.

"Nathan please stay with me!" Peter's hope was now replaced with fear, "somebody please help!" He pleaded with the people around him to do something for he could do nothing but watch his brother die. For the first time in a long while, he truly felt powerless.

 **End of Volume Two**

* * *

 **A/N: Interested? Well there's more coming soon so stay tuned, leave a comment and tell me if you liked it and if not tell me why you didn't like it. Chapter One: "Hope And Fear" of Volume Three: "Exodus" will be out ASAP.**


	2. Chapter 1 - Hope and Fear

**Volume Three: Exodus**

 **Chapter One: Hope And Fear**

 _For every force in nature, there's an opposite, man may recognise good and evil, right and wrong, hopes and fears. But nature only recognises balance and imbalance, and balance in the form of opposing forces. What would mankind describe as its opposing force? Is it itself? It's fears, its evil? Or is it something else entirely?_

 **\- Dr. Mohinder Suresh, "Activating Evolution: An Afterword"**

Sylar was finally confident that he had lost that blonde harpy as he collapsed in an alley. He opened the vial case and picked up the syringe filled with what he hoped would restore his powers. He cautiously injected it into his left forearm and suddenly he felt all of his aches and injuries disappearing.

He looked at the syringe and instantly knew how to take it apart and back again. He just needed one final confirmation.

He raised his hand at a nearby tin can and after a brief moment it began to vibrate and then it flew straight into Sylar's hand.

"I'm back," Sylar said triumphantly and focused on freezing the can in his hand but nothing happened.

"Good enough for now." He frowned as he threw the can across the alley.

* * *

 **Mohinder, Maya and Molly**

 **Isaac's Loft, New York**

Dr. Mohinder Suresh always had a firm adherence to the scientific method and as such was never the one to jump to conclusions but after seeing Nathan Petrelli pass out while talking about a virus left no doubt in his mind that Strain 128 of the Shanti virus was released in Odessa.

"Mohinder, what will happen to Matt?" Molly Walker asked.

"Nothing, Molly," Mohinder lied, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Dr. Suresh, what will happen to that man?" Maya Herrera asked with concern, referring to the now unconscious Nathan.

"I don't know Maya." Mohinder's lie was even more obvious, so much so that Maya recoiled slightly at the thought that Mohinder not only knew exactly what would happen, but that it was also too horrifying for him to let Molly know.

"Maya I need to do something, can you please look after Molly until I return." Mohinder asked her.

"What if Sylar comes back?" She asked in return.

"Then Elle will keep you safe." He said as he glanced at the blonde fulgurkinetic standing behind them, transfixed by what she was seeing. An all too familiar feeling crept back into her mind, a feeling she hadn't known until or ever since...

"Elle, did you hear me?" Mohinder's question snapped her out of the trance, "I said I'm going to see your dad."

"Right, doc." Elle said.

"Please keep them safe while I'm gone..."

"Mohinder where are you going?" Molly asked, it was clear she didn't want him to leave her, not after what had just happened, "please don't go."

Her pleading might have made him feel bad but he knew he'd feel a lot worse if Matt died because he was here instead of in a lab where he could help find a cure for quite possibly the most powerful strain of an already barely curable virus. He wasn't sure if even Claire's blood could help but he had to at least try. In any case the Company would try to fix this if only to cover their guilty asses, and he was their best shot at fixing it.

After what seemed like ages he finally spoke, "I'm sorry Molly, but I have much work to do." He went up to her and kneeled down so they were both at the same eye level.

"While I'm gone you listen to Maya and Elle, they will look after you and make sure the Boogeyman doesn't hurt you." Normally Mohinder wouldn't entrust Molly in the care of a complete stranger like Maya or a sociopath like Elle but it was either them or nothing and nothing lost every time.

"Are you going to find the Boogeyman?" Molly asked the obvious question.

"Yes." Mohinder in turn replied with the obvious lie.

* * *

 **Peter & Nathan**

 **Odessa, Texas**

As paramedics in hazmat suits wheeled in Nathan's unconscious body into a hospital the only thing an invisible Peter could do is watch and hope that somehow these people could save him as they performed the standard procedures to try and get him stable, which included hooking him up to an an IV full of antibiotics, water and most likely glucose.

Eventually after what seemed to be hours a doctor finally emerged from the room Nathan was being quarantined in.

"How is he doctor?" Peter asked, fearful of the most likely answer. He had turned visible a while back and had asked to be quarantined as well.

"Not good, Mr..."

"Petrelli."

"Are you family?"

"I'm his brother."

"Then I am sorry, Mr. Petrelli but we have no idea how to treat whatever is infecting him, his nervous system is slowly shutting down for reasons we can't even explain." The doctor said grimly.

"How long does he have?" Peter asked while barely holding back his grief.

"There's no way to know for certain, it could be hours, it could be days but the only thing we can do is keep him comfortable until the end." the doctor said.

"Can I see him?" Peter asked, "you know, before he dies."

"If he regains consciousness we will make sure to let you know immediately Mr Petrelli."

Peter could only wonder how long it would be before he too lost his powers and became symptomatic, then a thought crossed his mind.

 _I can heal._ Peter wondered if Claire's healing abilities had made him resistant if not outright immune to the virus' neuro-degradation effects, his BS in Biology told him that cell regeneration no matter how strong couldn't bolster a human's immune system only alleviate the symptoms, so chances are he was an asymptomatic carrier at best, which meant he wasn't going anywhere either.

He could only hope that Nathan's unintentional display of the virus' power had convinced the government to take action.

* * *

"I told you that this could happen!" Mohinder shouted at Bob Bishop as news coverage of the Odessa incident was playing on a TV in Bob's office.

"I warned you that if Strain 128 got out it could wipe everything out..."

"Indeed you did doctor, but being angry with me is a pointless exercise..." Bob calmly responded to Mohinder's shouting.

"It may be pointless but it certainly prudent, why did you even make that damn thing?! Why didn't you destroy it 30 years ago when Adam Monroe almost released it?" Mohinder's last question finally made Bob pay attention.

"How did you..."

"I read every file you had on the virus, everything you did to mutate it, all of it," Mohinder said while throwing a folder on the table, "I still don't know why you thought it was necessary to create such an apocalyptic strain."

"You're right! We got careless," Bob finally admitted, "we should've known that Adam would go for the virus once he got loose especially since he had Peter on his side."

"And now we'll all pay for your mistake."

"Let's not cry over spilled milk, what's done is done, the past cannot be changed..."

"I have a friend from Japan and paintings from a dead man that prove you wrong on that one." Mohinder said as Bob rose from his chair to meet the scientist on equal eye level.

"Nakamura's ability is dangerous to be used that way as there's no way to know if things won't get worse somehow." Bob paused for a second then continued. "In fact one might say they already did."

Mohinder remained silent as he realised that Bob was right, the future had changed from one where New York was destroyed to one where humanity would face a global pandemic if not outright extinction.

"Now we can keep arguing about what we could've done to prevent this or we can focus on fixing the mess on our hands." Bob felt like he had calmed the doctor down.

"There's a woman, Maya..."

"We are well aware of Ms. Herrera's situation, I'll have my daughter bring her and young Ms. Walker in for their safety." Bob reassuringly said as Mohinder began walking to the door.

"Doctor, we can still fix this."

"I hope so, for all our sakes." Mohinder grimly said as he left the room, presumably to go to his lab in the building.

After he left Bob pulled out his cell phone and dialled a number he never thought he'd have to.

"Hello?" A voice came from the other side.

"Howard, it's me Bob. I trust that you are aware of our... situation."

"Indeed I am sir. CDC teams are mobilising as we speak. The town will be fully quarantined in less than four hours."

"That's not good enough Lemay, we cannot risk a single person leaving Odessa." Bob stated. "Tell your buddies to pick up the pace."

"I will try but my post doesn't allow me to boss the entire CDC around." Mr. Howard Lemay said as Bob's patience ran out.

"Just get it done Howard." Bob said as he hung up.

* * *

 **Claire Bennet**

 **Costa Verde, California**

Claire had almost finished packing when she heard something downstairs.

"Claire I'm home." The voice of her mother came from bellow.

 _Crap._ Claire had hoped that Sandra would stay outside for a little longer. Now she had to sneak out the window.

For a brief moment she considered asking West to fly her from her window to Odessa but given their recent fallout, chances are he'd drop her in the ocean instead.

She finished packing, donned her backpack and began climbing out her window. As soon as her feet touched the ground she heard an uncomfortably familiar voice from her left.

"Going somewhere, young lady?" Sandra was a teen at one point so she knew to keep an eye on the backyard especially when her daughter had made a habit of sneaking out.

"Mom, I really need to go back to Odessa."

"Why, and if you really wanted to go to Odessa all you had to do is ask, you're seventeen..."

"Well..."

"Unless you thought I wouldn't let you go because it's dangerous."

"Mom..."

"Claire, what's going on?" Sandra asked, sternly.

Once the two were back in the living room Claire explained what she saw on the news and why she felt she was needed there.

"And you seriously thought that it was a good idea for you to just waltz into an epidemic?"

"Mom, my blood might be able to heal people..."

"And what if you're wrong and it does nothing, hell what if you're right and then they lock you up and farm you for all your blood 'till you're dead, no Claire I will not allow that." Sandra declared but Claire was unmoved.

"As if you can stop me," she glared at her mother as she rose from the sofa, "you can nail my bedroom window shut and I'll still get out..."

"What if I put bars on it, I bet that'll keep you still..."

"Then I'll just walk out the front door."

"No you won't Claire, and even if it means locking you in your room you are not getting within a 100 miles of Odessa, do I make myself clear?!"

"Crystal clear." Claire said with a hint of defeat in her voice.

Nathan finally regained consciousness as Peter watched him from behind the plastic airtight cover his bed was placed in.

"Peter." Nathan said with exhaustion through the breath mask the paramedics put on him before they zipped him in.

"It's me Nathan, I'm here," Peter said as he placed his hand on the cover.

"Is t... own, quar... tined" Nathan struggled to speak.

"I don't know yet but I've sealed off the highway so I think the virus is contained for the time being."

"G ...od." Nathan whispered.

"Just hang in there Nathan, everything's gonna be alright." Peter was almost in tears. After everything he did to save his brother, catching him after the explosion, getting him to a hospital and breaking Adam out of the Company prison so he can heal him, watching him like this was almost too much to bear.

As if he was noticing his brother's anguish, Nathan placed his hand on the opposite side of the cover, exactly under Peter's hand. The two continued to stare at each other's eyes as tears rolled down Peter's cheeks.

"I'll set things right Nathan." Peter said before wiping the tears off his cheeks and teleporting to parts unknown.

* * *

 **Sylar**

 **New York City**

Sylar knew not to stay out in the open especially now that the Company was on his trail but with his power set reduced to telekinesis he had no choice but to take risks until he was powerful enough to bring the fight to them.

Lucky for him, Mohinder was rather careless with his evolved human research and as such he was able to easily obtain a small list of specials, all within walking distance of Isaac's loft. One such individual was Carrie Ellis, a waitress with the ability of "dynamic camouflage", which Sylar knew would serve him well in evading the Company.

He knocked on her apartment door.

After what felt like a minute a young woman emerged from inside the house.

"He-hello, may I help you?" She stuttered out a question, Sylar was still somewhat bloody from the fall and the escape.

"Yes, I was wondering how a woman as gifted as you would do so little with your power." He coldly asked.

"What do you mean, I don't... there's nothing special about me." She said, her tone changing from nervousness to pure horror.

"I beg to differ, and since you don't care about your power, do you mind if I take it?" He smiled fiendishly as he telekinetically pinned her to the opposite side of the corridor the door was facing.

A second later the spot to which she was pinned showed no sign of her.

"Now, now." He whispered as he moved closer to the wall, "That trick won't work on me." He began to slice the wall with his mind, until he reached her thigh, at which point he began to slice through it, resulting in a scream of pure agony from the young miss Ellis causing her concentration to slip and her camouflage to blur, making her less invisible and more like she was painted the colour of the wall behind her.

Sylar then went for the finishing blow and sliced the top of her head open.

* * *

 **Caitlin O'Connell**

 **New York Quarantine Zone, 2008**

"Name?" Caitlin O'Connell's interrogator asked dispassionately.

"I want to see Peter." Caitlin coldly demanded. After being forced through that humiliating decontamination shower, Caitlin was in no mood to deal with this crap.

"You, don't get to do anything until you've answer my questions." The interrogator sharply declared. "Name?"

"Caitlin O'Connell." Caitlin answered with a sigh.

"Nationality?"

"Irish." Caitlin answered, this time with a hint of pride in her voice.

"Date of Birth?"

"17th of June, 1981."

"Age?"

"Um, 27?" Caitlin said with uncertainty as the interrogator wrote down her answers.

"Can you tell me exactly what an Irish woman like yourself was doing in New York with no sign of infection?" The interrogator asked but Caitlin remained silent as she tried her hardest to come up with a plausible story. Fortunately being the sister of a gang leader meant that lying was second nature to her.

"My boyfriend and I were travelling across America when the outbreak happened."

"The outbreak occurred more than a year ago, how did you survive for so long without being infected by the Shanti Virus?"

"Is that what it's called?" Caitlin didn't have to play dumb in this case, she really had no idea about any virus or what made her and Peter appear in New York one year into the future, although it certainly made her feel slightly better about that shower.

"As a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, you are to be deported to the quarantine zone in Limerick." the man declared, seemingly ignoring her answer. "Your possessions will be returned to you once they've been sterilized and then you'll be on the next flight home Ms. O'Connell." The interrogator announced as he rose from his chair, taking the notes with him.

"But what about Peter?"

"You mean the man with whom you were found? Assuming he's a US citizen he will remain here, if he is Irish like yourself he will be deported alongside you Ms. O'Connell." The interrogator clarified as he walked out the room.

Once the interrogator was gone she found herself alone in the room and a palpable feeling for dread slowly inched its way into her soul.

"Oh Lord," She clasped her hands and began to pray, "please give me strength, give me a sign that you haven't forsaken me and Peter," tears began to stream from her eyes, "if this is your punishment for my sins then I solemnly repent," she pleaded in between her whimpers, "please save me and Peter from this Purgatory."

Little did she know of what her future held as she was hauled out of the room she was kept and directed towards the opposite end of the compound. This is when she saw...

"Peter!" She yelped as she ran up to the fence that separated the pair.

"Caitlin." Peter walked up to the fence and held onto her fingers through the holes in the fence.

"Don't let them take me Peter!" She screamed as several guards pried her body from the fence.

"No, NO!" Peter shouted off the top of his lungs as he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"PETER!" Caitlin felt a stinging sensation in her neck before a sudden wave of fatigue overwhelmed her and she passed out.

* * *

"Yes I am well aware of the situation dad." Elle said impatiently to her dad over the phone.

"Then you are well aware of how to fix it." Bob calmly responded.

"I don't think Fight Club's gonna be happy I'm using her as a tracking system. I mean she called him a Boogeyman, that alone should tell you how much she'd be willing to do this..."

"At this point I do not care what Dr. Suresh thinks, his usefulness won't continue past the current crisis, after which Ms. Walker will be in our care once again."

"But..."

"Ms. Walker is strong enough to do this Elle."

 _My girl is stronger than that._ These words echoed in Elle's mind as she froze.

"Elle, you might have screwed this up. But I know you won't let me down again." With that the line went dead.

Elle pocketed her phone before turning to face Molly.

"Molly, I need you to find Sylar for me."

Molly shook her head.

"Where's Mohinder?" She asked.

"Mohinder's gone to talk to my dad about something, he'll be back soon but he needs your help to stop the Boogeyman."

"Can I see him?"

"I have some friends coming, they will bring you and Maya to him. Until they get here I'm gonna need you to help me. Okay?"

"Okay." Molly closed her eyes and concentrated on Sylar's location.

Images of streets and people flashed in her mind before she saw an address.

"He's on Dunham Road, apartment number eight."

"Dunham Road, that sounds familiar." Elle said as she looked over Mohinder's notes to see a list of evolved humans living in New York, one was for Carrie Ellis in Dunham Road.

"Oh God!" Elle whispered. "Sylar's going after them."

Elle quickly scribbled down a list of addresses in New York, if she was lucky enough Sylar would be at one of them. Regrettably she knew that she was already too late to save Ms. Ellis.

At that point she heard a knock on the door and glanced at the door window to see the welcome sight of Gael Cruz and Bianca Karina, two of the Company's finest.

She opened the door.

"Bishop." Karina coldly greeted Elle who had begun to realise just how much disservice she was doing to herself by alienating her co-workers. A realisation that lasted a second before her sociopathic nature reasserted itself.

"Love birds, took you long enough." Elle said playfully as she eyed Karina's engagement ring, "I see that Gael finally grew a pair and popped the question B. Congrats."

"Just let us in so we can do our job Elle." Gael said impatiently as Elle finally let them pass. "Thank you."

The two moved into the lab as Maya and Molly emerged from the adjacent bedroom to face them.

"Ms. Herrera, Ms. Walker." Gael greeted the two, "I'm agent Gael Cruz, this is Agent Bianca Karina."

"We're here to escort you two to safety." Karina said reassuringly as she smiled at Molly.

"Elle, I trust that Bob had made your assignment quite clear?" Bianca said as Gael escorted Maya and Molly out of the loft.

"Crystal clear, I'll have Sylar in no time." Elle said as she pocketed the list she had made.

"Please don't screw up again Elle, or we'll really think you're only here 'cause your dad's in charge." Bianca said mockingly.

Elle responded by lightly shocking Bianca with her finger.

"You done?" Elle asked.

"Yeah." Bianca left the loft, leaving Elle alone.

* * *

Claire Bennet was nothing, if not determined. Teenage rebellion was one thing, wanting to do the right thing no matter what was another. She eyed her full backpack. She was leaving no matter what her mother had to say about this situation. She donned the backpack and scrounged up as much money as she could find, $33 dollars by her estimate, hopefully enough for her to get to Odessa.

She once again snuck out through her back window only for this time to walk past her parents' bedroom and jump down the left side of the house where there were no windows for Sandra to peek out of.

"What are you doing?" Lyle stood before her and Claire swore under her breath, cursing her bad luck.

"Lyle I have to go." She said as she stried to walk past him only to block her way.

"My mom told me what you were trying to do." He said.

"Get out of my way Lyle." She harshly demanded.

"I'm just saying that you might need this." He brandished a $20 note.

"I was saving it for something special but from the looks of things you might need it more." he handed the note to Claire who smiled in surprise.

"Thank you." She said as she pocketed the twenty bucks and gave her younger brother a hug.

"Go get them sis." He encouraged as she walked away. He would try to cover for her as much as he could but sooner or later Sandra would know that Claire had gone off to be a hero, and she wouldn't be too happy about it.

* * *

Peter recognised exactly where he had teleported to even though it was barely anything like he remembered it.

It was a Roman Catholic church, two blocks down from the old Peterlli Mansion. He remembered as a kid his first communion taking place here, his grandmother's funeral, his parents were wed here and so were Nathan and Heidi. Personally he hadn't visited it ever since his father's funeral, a year ago, or to be precise, two years ago as Peter knew that he couldn't risk infecting present day people hence his jump to one year later.

The church looked very rundown, the rows of benches were upended or broken, the windows were shattered, one of the walls had the words "god is dead" spray painted on and several of the carvings were missing, _most likely used for firewood_ Peter thought as he made his way to one of the remaining carvings of Jesus Christ.

"Hello again," Peter said as he stared at the carving, "I know it's been a while since we last spoke," Peter said as he picked up a candle and lit it with an electric arc, "I know I asked you for guidance," he placed it on the sole standing candle stick, "I know I've made mistakes and that I've failed the world."

 _I know that we still have much to atone for..._

Sylar finished examining Carrie's brain and promptly tested his new ability, observing as his hand matched the colour of the wall he placed it against. With a satisfied grin he left the apartment.

 _...much to be forgiven for..._

Howard Lemay overlooked the CDC team as it quarantined the town and began testing individuals for infection before separating them in different quarantine zones.

 _...but I know that there's still a way..._

Mohinder examined his latest test's results. Strain 127 didn't respond to his antibodies at all.

 _...however unlikely..._

Claire walked along a sparsely populated highway as her attempts to hitchhike were ignored.

 _...for us to save this world..._

Matt observed a pair of panicked civilians as they attempted to sneak out of Odessa through the quarantine zone. With so much as a head lean he was able to discourage them from continuing.

 _...just so long as we hold on to hope..._

"I have failed." Hiro Nakamura said as footage of the Odessa quarantine finally reached Japan and his new office's TV. His long time friend Ando Masahashi reassuringly placed his hand on Hiro's shoulder as the two continued to watch the scene unfold on the screen.

"...so please..." Peter paused, unsure of what he could ask of Him.

"Please give me hope." Peter finished his prayer and closed his eyes. One second later, the church was empty as Peter teleported again. Whatever the future held for him, he knew that he had much to do before he could forgive himself for what he unwittingly did.

 ** _To Be Continued..._**


End file.
